


On the Other Side

by Yeah_JSmith



Series: Ruff Stuff [20]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: And Is About As Good At It As You Might Expect, Bathing/Washing, Cop Nick, Cute, Established Relationship, F/M, Handcuffs, Hunting, Judy Tries to Submit for Real, Light BDSM, Lock Picking, Nick Tops This TIme, Of the Wall Sex Variety, Post-Scene Discussions, Role Reversal, Roleplay, Thief Judy, Try Everything, also smut, chase scene, teaser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 04:39:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18887356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeah_JSmith/pseuds/Yeah_JSmith
Summary: Inspired by their undercover case, Judy asks Nick to help her hone her acting skills through roleplay.





	On the Other Side

Although he’d initially been a little hesitant about Judy’s most recent thrill-seeking idea, now that they were here and the scene was set, Nick was practically bursting at the seams. There was always something thrilling about doing things out in public — or as _in public_ as an abandoned warehouse could be, anyway. Nick felt like a sham in this cheap imitation of a police uniform they’d bought off e-Bray, but he couldn’t deny that Judy looked absolutely _stunning_ in the simple black outfit, loose enough to let her move but tight enough that it wouldn’t catch on anything. It hugged her curves below the dark gray utility belt that was largely for looks, but held actually useful tools of the trade.

If the trade was theft, anyway.

She was really getting into it. Her paws were soft and light as she worked the pick and the tension wrench together in the simple padlock that held the warehouse doors chained shut, and he wondered if this was one of the skills she’d picked up from his mother or if she’d learned it on MewTube just for their scene. Either was equally likely, after how intensely they’d negotiated this particular scene. Watching Judy pick a lock like a pro did something to him, sent something fierce and dangerous through his body. He wasn’t a criminal anymore — didn’t even _dabble,_ really — but it was still there, the instinct, the desire to win. He still chased the thrill of the hustle, just...legally, nowadays. What if Judy hadn’t managed to sway him? What if he’d managed to sway her?

Nick swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth as she stood, brushed off her knees, and pressed against the door, looking over both shoulders in a quick, almost professional movement that didn’t draw attention to her. It was a cop thing, he knew, but goddamn, it was a thief thing, too, and she looked spectacular. She slipped into the warehouse like a ghost, and it was his turn to follow.

Tonight, he was Detective Wilde, hot on the trail of a prolific thief, whose string of crimes was long and amusing — everything from solid gold toilet seats to an entire household full of pants, _sans_ the ones in the minor child’s room. Were it not for the fact that she was breaking the law, he might leave her to her hobby of tormenting bigshot CEO’s and other unsavory characters, but her hobby _was_ illegal, and it was his job to catch her. Tonight, he was a hunter, a predator, and this sneak thief was his prey.

He didn’t need a flashlight. There was enough glow from the full moon through the old, suspiciously dirty windows that his night vision — nowhere near as keen as his ancestors’ had been, but still a sight better than a bunny’s — was good enough to keep him going. Night vision didn’t exactly mean night _discernment,_ but Judy Hopps was a sneak thief, and she had a reputation: she always worked alone. He didn’t need to see every feature to know exactly who he was dealing with, or to know how dangerous she was. She’d taken down one of his colleagues before, a rhinoceros who’d been caught unawares. Nick wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

A soft stomp and a near-silent skittering off to his left — the clever thing was using sound and vibration to navigate, taking advantage of her own ancestral gifts to avoid having to use a secondary source of light. Nick pressed himself against the wall near the open warehouse doors and peered into the corner, knowing his canid tapetum lucidum would probably be as much of a giveaway as her stomping. This wasn’t just a hunt, it was a game of skill. He saw her leap from a high shelf, grab onto a pipe, and pull herself up before disappearing into the shadows of the ceiling.

Too bad he could smell her, even if he couldn’t see or hear her.

He’d memorized her scent some time ago, the first time they’d crossed paths. He hadn’t known her then, and they’d had an uncivil conversation in a bar before going their separate ways. But life had thrown them together again, and he’d ended up chasing after her in one way or another. This time, he had to make it stick. This time, she had to learn that she couldn’t just take the law into her own paws and get away with it.

He squinted his eyes, trying to cover his eyeshine as much as possible, and followed his nose through the silent building. It had, once upon a time, been a meat packing plant, so it had plenty of pipes and grating and shelves for Hopps to climb and swing on, but Nick had his own tricks. He didn’t look it, but he could jump higher than anyone else he knew, and he was fast...plus, he was three times her weight. All he had to do was catch her once, and as long as he limited her range of motion, it was over.

She followed the hanging lights toward the opposite side of the warehouse. Nick crouched down by some old rusty lockers, careful not to actually touch them — he’d recently gotten his tetanus booster like a good boy, but that didn’t mean he wanted to risk infection — and watched in amusement as Hopps threw a heavy wrench at the opposite corner before slipping down off the light, landing _almost_ silently on all fours. Nick took the opportunity to pounce, pinning her to the ground and sliding his cold metal cuffs around her wrists with a click. She struggled, rubbing her rear against him a little more than was strictly necessary, which made him struggle too, albeit in a different way, so he hefted her up roughly and pulled her around to face him. In this position, they were standing in one of the few areas where light from the outside touched the floor, so they could see each other. “Did you really think that would work on me?”

“I hoped not,” she shot back quickly with a grin.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. Even when caught, Hopps couldn’t help but be cheeky. “Judy Hopps, you’re under arrest — for numerous counts of burglary, resisting arrest, vandalism, petty theft, and honestly, being a real pain in the neck. If I can manage to get them to charge you for wearing Wednesday undies on a Friday, I will. You have the right to remain silent-”

“You _wish.”_

“Do you really want to mouth off to me right now, Hopps? I have you in cuffs. The boys downtown, my colleagues, can’t wait to finally see you behind bars so they can finally take me out for a celebratory drink. I _win.”_

“Oh, but _Officer,”_ she said slyly, and then — wonder of _wonders —_ pulled her arms out from behind her back to show him the police standard-issue double-locking cuffs, useless, open, wrapped around three fingers of one paw. “You’re so big and strong and confident. I couldn’t help it. I had to let you catch me, because if you’re angry and humiliated, escaping will be that much more _fun._ Chase me if you dare!”

She threw the cuffs, and the bent pin that she must have prepared before even entering the warehouse, directly at his face, so he had to move his arms to shield himself. With gleeful laughter, Hopps ran from him, her long strides taking her farther and farther away. _No!_ He wouldn’t lose her again! With an angry noise that was uncomfortably close to a primal scream, Nick tore after her, hopping over the long conveyor belt that she had chosen to run around and therefore halving the distance between them.

She was still laughing. Between that, the way she moved, her dangerous criminal side, and the adrenaline coursing through him, Nick was getting hot in a way that had nothing to do with how fast he was running. Hopps leapt for the stairs that led to the second-floor viewing area, which would be much more well-lit. He knew that if she could make it out the window, he’d lose her again, so he pumped his legs harder and skidded through the door just as she let out a shriek of irritation.

The window was locked, and she didn’t have time to take a flying leap at it. He had her, and this time, he wouldn’t make the mistake of leaving her an escape route. He advanced on her, one slow step at a time, and she backed away, but she didn’t look scared. Instead, she looked...excited? What was her game? Did she _want_ to be arrested? No, that would be too risky, even for her. When he finally had her up against the wall, clear moonlight spilling onto her beautiful face, she smiled, and it did things to him. She always did things to him, as much as he hated to admit it. She got to him. She always had. It was why, even though he always managed to catch her, she always managed to get away.

Not tonight. This would be the end of their game.

“You caught me. What an exemplary officer,” she said breathlessly, reaching out to tug on his badge. Unfortunately, it was attached to his belt, and her touch was as electric as a live wire or something else, maybe something less stupid. He stepped closer when she tugged on it, and before he knew it, they were pressed together.

“I did,” he acknowledged. Her chest heaved and he had to swallow again. “You’re coming with me. You were due in jail a long time ago.”

“Can’t I convince you otherwise?” She gave him a mischievous grin, moved her paw to the side, and rubbed him through his uniform pants. “Looks like you’ve got a hard-on already-”

“Only for justice,” he blurted, feeling suddenly strange and uncomfortable and — she burst out laughing, thank God.

“Dang it, Nick,” she giggled, lightly swatting his chest. He could feel her laughter along his front. “I was really into it!”

“I know, I…” He breathed in her scent. He didn’t pull away, as he was enjoying the intimacy. Neither of them had used the safeword. The scene, technically, could still be in play. But he moved forward honestly. “It’s — okay, yellow. This is getting intense. It sounded like a lot of fun when we talked about it, but instead of like...a silly trope roleplay, it feels like I’m doing my best to be a good cop and you’re doing your best to corrupt me and I don’t know how I feel about it, or why you want it this way, and you know I trust you but I’d feel better if I knew why it felt like a competition for dominance instead of the straightforward scene we planned.”

They were both quiet for a moment. He let her think.

“I didn’t realize,” she admitted, looking and sounding embarrassed. “I got caught up in it all — the running, the flirting. It feels nice to pretend to be on the other side. I get to be naughty and dangerous, but not in a way that actually hurts anybody. And as soon as I got into the chase part of the scene and the adrenaline kicked in, I forgot I was supposed to get caught and submit to you. It was almost like I was waiting for you to finish bratting so we could get to the fun part.”

Nick leaned forward and buried his face in her neck, amused, trying not to laugh. With muffled voice, he said, “You are _such_ a domme, Carrots. This was your idea!”

“I know! I know. Do-over? You’ve caught me. You have me right where I need to be for our original idea to work. If that’s something you still want to do.”

It was, and it wasn’t. He preferred her this way, dominant and confident in herself; she was vibrant and gorgeous. But he wanted her to have what she wanted, and he knew that she had trouble acting submissive, which was the whole point of this scene. He didn’t want to take that away from her just because he had preferences. Nick smiled and pulled his head back so he could meet her eyes. “I didn’t ruin the mood?”

“By being goofy and being honest with me? That _is_ a mood,” she assured him. She leaned her head forward and upward to kiss his nose. “Green?”

“Green,” he agreed, and used one of his paws to pin hers against the brick wall above her head, careful not to press hard and bring up bad memories — another reason they were doing this scene after a chase. She already had feel-good hormones coursing through her because of the exercise. With the other paw, he dug into his pocket. At a growl, he said into her ear, “I’ve had enough of your shit, Hopps. So here’s how it’s gonna go: you’re gonna do exactly what I tell you, exactly when I tell you, and you’re gonna promise to stop. In return, I won’t gift-wrap you for the DA. Got it?”

“Yes, Officer,” she murmured, wide-eyed.

“Good girl. Now, I’m gonna let your arms go and you’re gonna get down on your knees and put your mouth to work. Do you understand, or do I need to spell that out further?”

He could see something on her face, a quick spark of defiance, and he expected her to make him humiliate himself by talking her through it step by step. But instead, she nodded, sank to her knees, and as she worked at undoing the cheap utility belt, she answered demurely, “I understand.”

Huh. Well, now he had to think of a new strategy. Even when Judy bottomed, she didn’t submit, and he hadn’t expected her to get the hang of it this fast; he didn’t quite know what to do next except improvise.

The night air felt cool when she pulled his pants and boxer-briefs down, careful of his growing penis. Although she was careful, she wasn’t slow about it; before he could do much more considering, her tongue slid along the underside of his penis, beginning at his testicles and ending in a swirl at his slit. Nick sank the very tips of his claws into her headfur — not into her head — and although he gripped firmly, it was only to give the illusion of control. Judy’s tongue was thin and her mouth was small; she was familiar to him in all the ways he loved, and she knew exactly what to do to bring him out completely. Her soft knuckles worked his testicles and perineum, making his hips jerk involuntarily, but he did his best to hold himself still when she finally _oh God_ wrapped her lips around him and bobbed her head, sucking in her cheeks and meeting his eyes with her own soft ones.

Maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was the roleplay, maybe it was just Nick’s state of mind, but something was different about tonight. She didn’t look like she was taking what she wanted from him, she looked like she was doing what she was told. How strange. How _new._

He jerked again when she pushed firmly against his perineum and he _did_ pull on her head this time, pulled her away so that neither of them would get hurt, and decided that since they’d gone this far he might as well go all-in like they had planned. “Get up, Hopps, and put this on me.”

While he’d had her pinned, he’d dug a condom and a single-use packet of lube out of his pocket. The condom was for easier cleanup, and the lube was for her; just like her mouth, the rest of her was small. The thought of hurting her was physically nauseating. She reached for the packets and he tugged her headfur again, as gently as possible while still calling it a tug. He’d only meant to play up the scene a little, but again, she said, “Yes, Officer,” and if that was what she wanted to do, he wouldn’t stop her.

She stood on legs that seemed to be shaking a little. Nick wanted to ask if she was okay, but he trusted her to use the safeword if she needed it, so he didn’t. He shuddered at the feeling of her paws on him, the sensation of a condom rolling on inordinately pleasurable. It was a thing he felt a lot, but it always felt better when she did it for him. He shuddered again when she rubbed on the lube, thoroughly coating the condom. He could feel every stroke, and the way she was focusing on the task — not looking at his face, but at his cock, at her paws, which were going to be slick and ruin his uniform, it was going to be unwearable after this and he wasn’t even upset about it — made him ache. Her singular focus was so often elsewhere. She was so career-oriented. But now, it was him, it was _them,_ and he was hers...no, no, she was his. Tonight she was his. That was how she wanted it.

Nick pushed Hopps against the brick in a way that would look rough but not feel that way, and murmured, “Pull down your pants, Hopps. Not all the way. Just enough to give me what I want.”

“Yes, Officer,” she said, and he fought to keep the confused expression off his face. She had crafted her own character, after all, just as he had crafted his. She did as she was told, pulling her pants and underwear down just past her knees, and Nick reached between her thighs to get a measure of where she was. She certainly _smelled_ aroused, but that wasn’t always the best way to tell. It wasn’t even _usually_ the best way to tell.

Hopps was slicker than she would be normally, but not as slick as he wanted her, so he grabbed one of her paws and brought it down. She got the idea and, with a smile, wiped the lube onto herself. He snatched her paw back, put both of them above her head again, and traced her labia, rubbing the lube around the rim of her vagina. He had to be careful about stretching her, what with his non-retractable claws, so with two careful fingers he focused on massaging the area as he gently thumbed circles around her clitoris.

It wasn’t always easy to get her where she needed to be. Officer Wilde had no way to know this about Hopps, but _Judy_ was sensitive, sometimes overly so, and that made it hard to get her aroused with his _paws_ without making it painful. Normally, he liked to use his tongue. Not only did it seem to be gentler and more effective, but he loved to watch her expression from that angle as she came. Tonight, though, that wasn’t what they were going for, so he made sure to stick to the tricks he was sure would work instead of trying to get creative. He spent time massaging the left side — well, his right, her left — and watched her quiver, felt the tendons in her forearms as her paws opened and closed, felt her legs jerk before he felt comfortable pressing directly on her clit. As expected, she let out a pleased sigh and rolled her hips into his paw, and he thought he could watch her and please her all night, but he wouldn’t. They had a scene to finish.

Nick slotted his knee between her thighs and hefted her up, letting go of her wrists so he could put both paws on her waist. Carefully, slowly, he lowered her onto his penis, and it was _bliss,_ and because of her pants her legs got caught behind her, forcing an arch. She hissed so he waited, waited, eyes closed, listening for any hint of the safeword—

“C’mon, Officer,” she taunted, “you’re not getting soft on me now, are you?”

“You need to learn some goddamn respect,” he retorted, and thrusted forward, up, inside.

They’d never tried sex at this angle. Nick braced himself against the brick with one paw and cupped the back of her head in the palm of his other, somehow managing to marvel at the way they fit _so well_ despite being so mismatched in size _and_ angle his hips well enough to not tip over. Hopps pushed against his arm, letting her head rest in his palm, grabbing at the air above her before seeming to realize there was nothing to hold, so she reached out and buried her paws into his neckfur instead. She pulled sharply, showing off those muscles of hers, and as Nick allowed her to move his head close to hers, he realized he had much more maneuverability this way. His thrusts became quicker as they both worked with gravity; neatly working one leg out of her pants, Hopps hooked her calves around Nick’s hips and the new pressure set Nick’s claws to scraping inefficiently at the brick and caulk, and he heard himself let out some kind of grunting noises that sounded...primal, animalistic, nothing like the noises he usually made.

Hopps clung to him, unable to do much more than move with him like she was riding him. Her hips rocked and rolled against his, in time with his, and she didn’t exactly moan, but she wasn’t silent. She sighed and keened and murmured his name, _Nick, oh, Nick,_ and something said it was supposed to be different, but he didn’t care, she could call him a filthy piece of shit if she wanted, it felt _so good,_ and almost on instinct he scraped his incisors against her pulse point. Not even a nibble, let alone a bite, just a tiny line of fang, but it was enough to make her squeeze around him, and it only took a few more desperate thrusts for him to fall completely into her and slump, sated, against the wall over her shoulder.

She wasn’t finished, though, he could tell. So although he was sensitive, he reached down to rub oblong and abstract shapes onto her clitoris and the area surrounding it — she squeezed again, and this time it was _painful,_ but it felt good to know she was orgasming while he was inside her — and he hoped she could hear how his heart was pounding. It was because of her. She was the only one who ever got to him like this.

“And...let that be a lesson,” he said lamely, not really in the mood to move, let alone act. “Don’t litter, or whatever.”

She laughed lightly and squirmed. “Okay, scene over, I got it. Let me down.”

Nick sighed theatrically and lifted her up, setting her down gently. She examined her pants with distaste. “These are all stretched now. I’ll have to put them in the dryer just to fix them, and even that might not work.”

“So? You got lube all over my nice new uniform shirt. We’re even,” Nick shot back, rolling off the condom and tying it carefully. Judy gave him a plastic baggie and a soft cloth from her utility belt and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she cleaned herself off with a similar cloth and a clean-catch wet wipe. That was classic Judy, always coming prepared with weird stuff he wouldn’t have thought of. Once he was finished, he asked, “Do you want to discuss here, or wait till we get home?”

“Home,” she decided, pulling her pants up and nodding. “I need to think.”

“Me too,” he said, and it wasn’t a lie, but it was maybe a stretch of the truth. He didn’t _need_ to think, but if Judy needed to, then he’d take the time to reflect, and it’d be good for him. All of their used items went into a plastic grocery bag, which Judy stored in the biggest pouch in her utility belt. What a pro.

Nick removed his collar from the one pouch on his utility belt, and when he buckled it around his neck, he felt like he’d regained something he hadn’t known he was missing.

* * *

One of the selling points of their apartment had been the bathtub. It was an overly large thing, originally built to accommodate mammals who had various accessibility needs, and the chair section of it could easily fit them both. Baths weren’t for cleaning; they were for relaxing and taking time to be with each other. While the tub finished filling, Nick and Judy carefully washed their feet in the small foot tubs, so they wouldn’t make the bath water filthy.

Nick didn’t usually like to admit it, but he appreciated these little bits of domesticity. Even now, after almost a decade of being with Judy, sometimes he had a sense that he would lose it all, or that he would wake up under a bridge and realize that this life was just a dream. It was the same reason he still sometimes felt guilty eating a full meal, when half of it could be stored away, and the reason he sometimes bratted for what probably seemed like no reason. He couldn’t totally believe that this amazing life of his was real. Some part of him expected to need the other half of the meal for survival, and that same part of him expected her to drop him like hot garbage for bratting. Neither ever happened. Either Judy would finish the meal or he’d eat it later, and either Judy would be kind to him or punish him for his attitude, and he never woke up under a bridge.

Something felt weird tonight — it was similarly artificial, although Nick wouldn’t really put a finger on what had caused it or what _it_ even was. Something to do with the _way_ she had submitted to him, he thought. It didn’t set off alarm bells, exactly, but there was something off…

“Okay, I think it’s full enough,” she said, interrupting the quiet. She was short enough that she had to stand on her tiptoes to see over the rim of the large tub, which was adorable as heck, but he didn’t tell her so. He simply reached over the rim — and yeah, okay, compared to the prior occupants he was a little short too, he had to stretch to reach it — and pushed the faucet off. She looked up at him. “You didn’t put any weird oils in, right?”

“That was one time,” he complained, “and only because that website _promised_ it would be relaxing.”

“Oh, you know I’ll be teasing you forever. It’s one of the only things I have on you, after all.”

He felt so warm as he stood on the stool and carefully stepped over the side of the tub. She had a _lot_ of things she could hold against him, if she chose to get nasty. His criminal background, his lingering trust issues, and those weird food issues were just a few — not to mention his submissiveness; that wasn’t exactly socially acceptable — but instead, she thought a silly mistake that made them both smell uncomfortably like roses for a week was her best ammunition. Good God, he loved her.

She could have jumped, but instead, she asked, “Help me up?”

He held out his paw. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Although she took his paw and leaned on him so that she didn’t slip as she followed him into the tub she did ask, “Can you...not call me that? At least, not until we’re done with our conversation? I like it now, I promise, but I don’t want to talk as a domme and her sub, I want to talk as two mammals with no dynamic who just did a power exchange scene.”

“Sure,” he assented as they sat down side by side, seeing the logic in her request. They had done some intense stuff, objectively more intense and dangerous than the _actions_ they’d done earlier, but the energy of this scene was different. Most of their previous scenes had been quiet, and had relied on their own energy for intensity. This had fed off the adrenaline and other exercise-induced euphoria, and that was inherently more dangerous. It was also definitely new territory, a different kind of power exchange, and if they discussed it as a domme and her submissive partner, the conversation would naturally slip into that dynamic.

The water was warm, _almost_ uncomfortably so, but they planned to soak for a while. Nick sighed softly as he submerged his lower back and felt the almost-silent jets work around his lumbar spine; he was getting old, and his body liked to complain about his active lifestyle. Judy wrapped her legs around his and clung to his arm awkwardly so that she wouldn’t get pushed into the middle of the tub, and with a sad sound, he pulled his arm out of her grip, reached around her shoulders, and turned off the jets. Maybe after their conversation, he’d hold her in his lap and turn them on again.

“Thanks,” she said. She shifted closer, seeming...almost needy, which was unusual, but not unwanted. “Do you...um, yeah, why don’t you tell me how you felt about the scene.”

He nodded. “As long as you tell me after.”

“Agreed.”

“For the most part it was amazing. You already know I had some problems with the middle point, and I’m...I wasn’t comfortable with _how_ submissive you were acting. It was...like you were trying too hard,” he concluded, finally able to pinpoint the issue he’d had earlier. “I guess I was trying just as hard, so the talky part before we actually had sex were hokey to me. The ending...well, it felt nice, but I really worried about hurting you, so it was a little pro-con at the beginning. Maybe it would go better if we tried it again, so long as you promise me it didn’t hurt. I _really_ loved hunting you, though. I would like to do that part again, but...longer. Maybe just for fun, or as  movement training, instead of a scene. What did you think?”

“I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would,” she admitted with a sigh heavy enough that he felt it all the way through his torso. Jeez. “I don’t really know why. I liked each individual piece of the scene. I loved the setup — I really did, I had _so much fun_ being a thief, it was such a rush, breaking into that building and...I mean we had permission from the owner, but...just, _wow._ And I liked the chase, and I liked the look on your face when I got out of the cuffs. Did you know I had to practice that for months before I even proposed the scene to you?”

“No, but I’m not at all surprised.”

“Well, it was all so thrilling. And I even liked it when you caught me. The way you were looking at me...I felt special. I always like the faces you make when I blow you, so I enjoyed that, and the sex was new, but we could _stand_ to do it like that again.”

“Did you just…” He rolled his eyes and pulled her closer, even though the water was still uncomfortably warm. “Carrots, if I’m not allowed to make puns during a serious discussion, neither are you.”

“Go ahead and make one, then,” she challenged.

Nick opened his mouth, closed it again, and scowled. “Dammit, I can’t think of anything.”

Judy laughed lightly. “Anyway, it’s like I said, I liked all the pieces of it, so I don’t know why I’m not satisfied with the scene.”

“I’ll tell you what I just heard, if you want,” he offered, amused, because this was just part of Judy’s personality, and it was part of why he loved her.

“Sure.”

“You liked all the parts of the scene that made you feel powerful. No, wait.” He cut her off before she could contradict him, and she shut her mouth with a click. He smiled down at her gently. “You invaded private property with skills that not everyone cultivates. You evaded me with tricks and then you tricked me into catching you early so you could show off another unusual skill. You ran from me, but you led me to the only place where you knew you wouldn’t have an escape. You said yourself you like what you do to me when you have your mouth on me. And the end...well, you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted to have sex with. You’re the only one who does it for me. You have that power over me, and I might have been the one “in control” of the actions, but you could have stopped it at any time. You _didn’t_ mention liking the part where you said “Yes, Officer,” and you _didn’t_ mention liking doing what you were told.”

“Oh,” she said quietly, and unless he missed his guess, sadly, too.

He shook his head and squeezed her tight. “Hey. It’s okay. Honestly, it would have surprised me if you _had_ liked it. But we had fun tonight, even if we both had some parts that we didn’t love, and I wouldn’t be averse to doing another scene like that, maybe with some things changed around. I did like chasing you, and watching you pretend to break the law was...it was really hot, Carrots. I didn’t know I had a thing for picking locks, but apparently I do. Next time maybe the thief traps the cop with his own cuffs and turns the tables. That would be fun.”

“Yeah, it would be,” she agreed. “I wonder how many criminals have fantasies of getting cops down on their knees, begging to be...you know. Released.”

Nick snorted. “More than you’d think, but not usually in that context.”

They shared a laugh that felt good after their discussion. Everything felt better, actually, now that they’d pinpointed what had felt wrong and what had felt right. Maybe their likes and dislikes wouldn’t always match up perfectly, but they matched up well enough that whatever disagreements they had, they could negotiate. That reassurance felt _great._

She lazily kicked her feet below the surface. He considered catching them and beginning a calf massage, but decided he was too lazy. Maybe later. The water was, he thought, getting to them both.

“Why did you want to do this particular scene,” he asked curiously after a moment of quiet soaking.

She shrugged. “I wanted to know what it was like to be submissive, and I couldn’t think of another scenario that would make it seem real.”

“No, I...I get that.” He blew out a breath and stroked her ears with damp claws. “I mean why a thief, of all things?”

“Oh.” She eyed him and looked away, obviously embarrassed. “You’re going to laugh at me.”

“Try me.”

Hesitantly, she explained, “I sometimes...you know, fantasize. Sometimes I get so mad at the legal system. There’s so much it can’t do. I put murderers behind bars, but there’s nothing I can do about systemic poverty and sometimes if the laws are unjust it feels like doing my job is wrong. It’s a rewarding job when I do the right thing. Mostly it feels right. But not always. And sometimes I fantasize, you know, about...um, targeting the unjust the only way they’ll ever understand: by stealing their money and using it to right the wrongs they’ve committed. It’s dumb-”

“Don’t use that word-”

“I didn’t say I’m dumb, I said _it’s_ dumb. It’s not a sound idea. But there’s no justice for a lot of mammals, and it felt thrilling to pretend for a little while that not only was that a workable idea, but that I was the kind of mammal who could do it. Like that show, with the team who gets hired to pull cons and steal from jerks.”

“So you were pretending to be _Parker._ It figures,” he teased, because that was the least surprising part of their whole evening.

“It helped me figure out what I want to do. I have my reevaluation with Captain Fangmeyer next week, and I’ve been worrying about it, but...I know what the right thing is. It’s going to be hard, Nick, but I’m going to do what you and Rivers and I discussed. I can’t leave her to do it alone.”

“I had a feeling that would be your answer,” he mused. He was so proud of her — for powering through the hard times, for making the tough decisions that she needed to make. They both had setbacks, but it really felt like things were getting better, like the cracks were finally sealing the way they should have a long time ago. “I’m behind you one hundred percent.”

“I know.” She turned in the water to face him, and he felt the water splash onto his chest. She twisted her fingers into his wet fur, and it was a little painful, but he didn’t mind; her expression was plaintive, and he wanted her to know he was listening. “Nick, the next few months are going to be hard. Really hard. I’m going to be stressed out and I might — I might get angry with myself and say things I shouldn’t. But I promise that I believe in you, and I believe you when you say you believe in me, and probably I’ll be okay with a hug and a night of stupid comedies on Webflix. But if I need to do something crazy, like we did tonight…”

“As long as it’s healthy, and we talk about it, we can play cops and robbers all you like. But I’d like to ask a favor in return,” he promised.

“Anything.”

“Sometime soon, I’d like to sit down and watch you pick locks. I mean it when I say it’s sexy.”

“Ugh, Nick, you’re such a goober,” she joked, elbowing him gently in the side, but then she leaned against his chest and listened to his heart and whispered, “I’m glad you think I’m sexy.”

Nick draped his arms loosely around her, leaning back to dip a little further into the warm water while making sure that her face stayed dry. He kissed her forehead and, for the millionth time, felt like the luckiest fox in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Now I just want to write thief!Judy who, instead of being inspired by cops as a child, was inspired by like...Parker from _Leverage_ instead. Dammit, Jay.


End file.
